This year I've decided to sketch many of The Great Holy Men and Women of the Church. Come along with me on this journey as we get to know our elder brothers and sisters in faith.

"And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us," Heb 12:1

Teresa of Avila

October 15

Teresa of Avila [Latin: Teresa De lesvs] (28 March, 1515 - 4 October, 1582) was a Spanish mystic, and a Carmelite nun. A prominent figure of reformation of the Roman Church, along with her disciple John of the Cross, in the period surrounding Synod of Trent, she was a theologian of the highest rank and an advocate for ceaseless noetic prayer. Throughout her life she experienced tremendous spiritual ecstasy, and underwent a multitude of visionary experiences. Her books which include her autobiography (The Life of Teresa of Jesus) and her seminal work "El Castillo Interior" (trans.: The Interior Castle) were an integral influence on the Spanish Renaissance, as well as Western Christian mysticism. Her description of Christian mediation, in her other important work, Camino de Perfección (trans.: The Way of Perfection) was also very influential. Pious beliefs also associate Teresa with the esteemed religious icon called "infant Jesus of Prague" with claims of former ownership and devotion.